Last Updated: March 3, 2023 by Quote.cc Team
Mental health is the level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness. It is the state of someone who is “functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioral adjustment.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Mental Health is defined as a person’s condition concerning their psychological and emotional well-being.
Mental health is vital in all stages of life. We must care for our bodies and our emotions and thoughts. It impacts how we feel, think and act, making it essential in all areas of our lives. To realize your full potential, achieve success, and live a more fulfilling life, you need to have a healthy mental state.
Mental health and mental illness are commonly overlooked in the health world, as many do not consider these unseen issues an actual health problem. It is often misunderstood, especially by those that do not suffer or have suffered from it. A lack of understanding of these disorders can leave sufferers feeling isolated and hopeless. Ignoring severe mental health issues is like telling a patient who suffers from crippling anxiety and chronic depression to “deal with it.” When people do not take others’ mental health issues seriously and minimalize their recovery by telling them that “life is hard” and “get over it,” it makes the person suffering feel alone and scares to express themselves in the future. They avoid telling people when they need help. It is easier to put on a face and hide it. Because if you appear fine, you are fine, right? Nevertheless, it is exhausting.
Mental health and mental illnesses are real, tangible problems that need to be treated healthily. If you are facing mental health problems, know you are not alone. We have compiled a list of mental health quotes that we feel encompass mental health and the struggles. We hope these mental health quotes can help you and others understand your feelings better. If any of these mental health quotes can help, that is amazing.
150 Quotes About Mental Health
Top 10 Mental Health Quotes
“Mental health can be just as important as physical health and major depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses.” – Michael Greger
“Veterans are generally reluctant to seek mental health care.” – Chuck Norris
“Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.” – Clint Eastwood
“Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” – Michelle Obama
“There is a self interest in voting for a society where there is health care for all, where there’s a mental health service for all, where there is education service for all.” – Jeremy Corbyn
“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” – Glenn Close
“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.” – Joubert Botha
“I cannot stand the words ‘Get over it’. All of us are under such pressure to put our problems in the past tense. Slow down. Don’t allow other to hurry your healing. It is a process, one that may take years, occasionally, even a lifetime and that’s OK.” – Beau Taplin
“You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human.” – Lori Deschene
“Nobody can save you but yourself, and you’re worth saving. It’s a war not easily won, but if anything is worth winning then this is it.” – Charles Bukowski
What Is Mental Health?
“Mental illness is the only disease that can make you deny its own existence. Certainly, the idea that the brain can deny its own illness is a frightening thought.”
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” – World Health Organization
“A great hallmark of mental wellness is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere.” – Wayne Dyer
“Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” – Noam Shpancer
“Mental health sufferers are not crazy. They have special insight. You better recognize that setting aside your interest people to stay asleep and show empathy towards God’s imperfect creations, otherwise the world has no meaning to exist.” – Maria Karvouni
“Mental health is not just the absence of mental illness, it’s about thriving in life, finding balance, and being able to cope with life’s challenges.” – Unknown
“Mental health is just as important as physical health. It’s about taking care of your mind, body, and soul.” – Unknown
“Mental health is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.” – Unknown
“Mental health is not a weakness, but a strength. It takes courage to seek help and to face your challenges.” – Unknown
“Mental health is a journey, not a destination. It’s about progress, not perfection.” – Unknown
“Mental health is about being comfortable in your own skin and living the life you want to live.” – Unknown
“Mental health is about understanding that everyone has their own struggles, and that it’s okay to ask for help.” – Unknown
“Mental health is about taking care of yourself, so you can take care of others.” – Unknown
“Mental health is about finding the balance between work, play, and rest, and taking care of your emotional and physical needs.” – Unknown
Mental Health Awareness Quotes
“To think too much is a disease.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Not all wounds are visible.”
“Healing is hard, staying wounded is harder.”
“Don’t be afraid to put your mental health first.”
“True suffering is being trapped in your own head.” – Adam Snowflake
“She was like the moon … part of her was always hidden.”
“The acknowledgment of having suffered evil is the greatest step forward in mental health.” – Stefan Molyneux
“Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.”
“I support mental health awareness month, because everyone deserves to feel good.”
“Women, in particular, need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to do’ list.” – Michelle Obama
“Some of the most comforting words in the universe are ‘me too.’ That moment when you find out that your struggle is also someone else’s struggle, that you’re not alone, and that others have been down the same road.”
“What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.” ― Raymond L. Cramer
“Mental illness is like fighting a war where the enemy’s strategy is to convince you that the war isn’t actually happening.”
“About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be defined as the general neurosis of our times.” – C.G. Jung
“I am exhausted from trying to be stronger than I feel.”
“My personality disorder doesn’t define who I am, it explains it.”
“Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It’s the final taboo and it needs to be faced and dealt with.” – Adam Ant
“Mental health isn’t all of me, but it’s a massive part of my journey and a massive part of my whole being.” – Adwoa Aboah
“It doesn’t have to take over your life, it doesn’t have to define you as a person, it’s just important that you ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness.” – Demi Lovato
“This feeling will pass. The fear is real but the danger is not.” – Cammie McGovern
“I feel like I am gasping for air. Screaming for help. But everyone just looks at me with confused faces. Wondering what I am struggling over when they’re all doing just fine. And it makes me feel crazy.”
“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.” – Carl Jung
“It’s so important to realize that every time you get upset, it drains your emotional energy. Losing your cool makes you tired. Getting angry a lot messes with your health.” – Joyce Meyer
“It’s not just people who can’t find a job, or can’t fit in in society that struggle with depression sometimes.” – Jared Padalecki
“The only thing more exhausting than having a mental illness is pretending like you don’t.”
“Throughout history, great healers have discovered the power of breathing to enhance the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of their people.” – Richard P. Brown
“You cannot heal a lifetime of pain overnight, be patient with yourself, it takes as long as it takes to rebuild yourself.”
“Self-esteem is not a luxury; it is a profound spiritual need.” – Nathaniel Branden
“Depression… is what your suffering actually yours.” – Susanna Mittermaier
“Your mental health is a priority. Your happiness is an essential. Your self-care is a necessity.”
“The acknowledgment of having suffered evil is the greatest step forward in mental health.” – Stefan Molyneux
“There is a point where courage becomes a symptom of mental illness.” – Wayne Gerard Trotman
“PTSD is a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions.” – Susan Pease Banitt
“There isn’t anybody out there who doesn’t have a mental health issue, whether it’s depression, anxiety, or how to cope with relationships. Having OCD(obsessive-compulsive disorder) is not an embarrassment anymore – for me. Just know that there is help and your life could be better if you go out and seek the help.” – Howie Mandel
“There is no health without mental health; mental health is too important to be left to the professionals alone, and mental health is everyone’s business.” – Vikram Patel
“Never underestimate the pain of a person, because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Just some people are better at hiding it than others.”
“Those who suffer from depression would know that all the things that might seem nonsensical are eventually real.” – Dwimirnani
“Doctors don’t know everything really. They understand matter, not spirit. And you and I live in the spirit.” – William Saroyan
Mental Health Day Quotes
“We’re all in it together. All pain is temporary, and the thing is with anxiety, and why it’s such a hard thing for people who don’t have it to understand.” – Shawn Mendes
“For a long time I used to think that soldiers don’t go through that. You know? Like, strong people in life, the bravest, the most courageous people, they don’t go through that, they just get on with it… and that’s not the case.” – Stormzy
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“You are beautiful because you let yourself feel, and that is a brave thing indeed.” – Shinji Moon
“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” – Mandy Hale
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” – Oscar Wilde
“Let today be the day you stop living within the confines of how others define or judge you.” – Steve Maraboli
“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of the world but those who fight and win battles that others do not know anything about.” – Jonathan Harnisch
“Turn your demons into art, your shadow into a friend, your fear into fuel, your failures into teachers, your weaknesses into reasons to keep fighting. Don’t waste your pain. Recycle your heart.” – Andrea Balt
“You can’t control everything. Sometimes you just need to relax and have faith that things will work out. Let go a little and just let life happen.” – Kody Keplinger
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter
“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis of Assisi
“I have come to realize making yourself happy is most important. Never be ashamed of how you feel. You have the right feel any emotion you want, and do what makes you happy.” – Demi Lovato
“Promise me you’ll always remember you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin from Winnie The Pooh
“Your illness is not your identity. Your chemistry is not your character.” – Pastor Rick Warren
Inspirational Mental Health Quotes
“You are not alone.”
“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Amy March
“The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire.” – Mama Indigo
“She overcame everything that was meant to destroy her.” – Sylvester McNutt
“When there’s nothing left inside, there’s still a reason to fight.”
“The only journey is the journey within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“Your mental health is important. Take care of yourself.”
“Your illness does not define you. Your strength and courage does.”
“If you would live long, open your heart.” – Bulgarian saying
“Beautiful fake smile. All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul and they will never notice how broken you really are.” – Robin Williams
“I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on.” – Carrie Fisher
“You are so brave and quiet, I forget you are suffering.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore
“My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it.” – Emery Lord
“You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle.” – Julian Seifter
“All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul and they will never notice how broken you really are.”
“Living with anxiety, turning up, and doing stuff with anxiety takes a strength most people will never know.” – Matt Haig
“Sometimes in life, you just need a hug. No words, no advice, just a hug to make you feel better.”
“You are stronger than you know. In the depths of despair you find your true strength within.” – Asad Meah
“Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.”
“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” – Buddha
“It’s okay to not be okay, but never give up on yourself.” – Asad Meah
“To that one soul reading this: I know you’re tired, you’re fed up, you’re close to breaking, but there’s strength within you, even when you feel weak. Keep fighting.”
“Be confused, it’s where you begin to learn new things. Be broken, it’s where you begin to heal. Be frustrated, it’s where you start to make more authentic decisions. Be sad, because if we are brave enough we can hear our heart’s wisdom through it. Be whatever you are right now. No more hinding. You are worthy, always.” – S.C. Lourie
Positive Mental Health Quotes
“Give yourself time to heal.”
“What is more, there is increasing evidence that cultivating positive mental states like kindness and compassion definitely leads to better psychological health and happiness.”
“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states.” – Carol Welch
“It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love – writing songs and making music.” – Mariah Carey
“Art Therapy … Uses the creative process of art-making and client-reflection to improve and enhance mental, physical and emotional well-being of individuals.” – David Edwards
“I’m struggling just to get through the days. I think a lot of people are.” – Justin Bieber
“I’ve run my whole life – for more than exercise, for mental health.” – Wendelin Van Draanen
“Only keep the things in your life that bring you mental joy, discard and let go of the rest.” – Asad Meah
“Take your time healing, as long as you want. Nobody else knows what you’ve been through. How could they know how long it will take to heal you.”
“Exercise itself, which tends to be highly repetitive when engaged in regularly, is a major driver of neuroplastic changes in the brain, which is why physical exercise is one of the most important factors in restoring and maintaining mental as well as physical health across the life span, starting from the moment one begins such a program.” – Bob Stahl
“Today I refuse to stress myself out over things I can’t control and change.”
“If I had not been already been meditating, I would certainly have had to start. I’ve treated my own depression for many years with exercise and meditation, and I’ve found that to be a tremendous help.” – Judy Collins
“To me, good health is more than just exercise and diet. Its really a point of view and a mental attitude you have about yourself.” – Albert Schweitzer
“Give yourself a break. Stop beating yourself up!. Everyone makes mistakes, has setbacks and failures. You don’t come with a book on how to get it right all the time. You will fail sometimes, not because you planned to, but simply because you’re human. Failure is a part of creating a great life.” – Les Brown
“Instead of saying, I’m damaged, I’m broken, say I’m healing, I’m rediscovering myself, I’m starting over.”
“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”
“Sometimes self care is exercise and eating right. Sometimes it’s spending time with loved ones or taking a nap. And sometimes it’s watching an entire season of TV in one weekend while you lounge around in your pajamas. Whatever soothes your soul.” – Nanea Hoffman
“We take care of our dental health. We don’t take care of our mental health … I think the solution to making this world better is if we would just be healthy mentally.” – Howie Mandel
“Switch your mentality from ‘I’m broken and helpless’ to ‘I’m growing and healing’ and watch how your life changes, for the better.”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.” – Mariska Hargitay
“If you want to enjoy health, start this very moment to cleanse your consciousness of all wrong thinking and rid it of every thought except the thought of love.” – James B. Schafer
“I’ve spent half my life in gyms, if not more, and I love physical fitness and health; couple that with the fact that I love for people to be healthy, whether it’s mentally, physically, or emotionally, and it’s just a great opportunity for me to do something I love and have an impact on people’s health.” – Steve Nash
“The quickest way to end up feeling anger all the time is to repress it and fight against it.” – Jessica Moore
“The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.” – Juliette Lewis
“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.” – Charles Bukowski
“balancing time you spend with or without people is crucial for mental health.” – Amy E. Spiegel
“I’m actually taking medication that seems to be pretty good. It’s not making me feel too tired or sluggish or anything like that. Finding the proper balance is what is most important.” – Mariah Carey
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
Mental Health Stigma Quotes
“I have this problem. I isolate myself, then become upset because I’m lonely.”
“It’s okay to feel unstable. It’s okay to disassociate. It’s okay to hide from the world. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay not to be okay. Your mental illness is not a personal failure.”
“There is no shame in taking medication for a mental illness. Do whatever works for you.”
“Sometimes the worst place you can be at is in your own head.”
“We need to change the culture of this topic and make it OK to speak about mental health and suicide.” – Luke Richardson
“I think it’s really important to de-stigmatize mental illness in any form. I think there’s a lot of people that are carrying around guilt and shame and baggage for sh** that doesn’t matter. Everybody is going through something, everybody has had something that they’ve had to overcome.” – Mary Lambert
“Don’t give in to stigma. A diagnosis does not determine who you are or what you can do!”
“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.” – Bill Clinton
“Unfortunately, we force people to break the law in order to get any kind of mental health treatment.” – Pete Earley
“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that all the time about people with mental illness.” – Elyn R. Saks
“Anger can have equally disastrous effects on your own life. Left unchecked, it can destroy some of your closest relationships and undermine your physical and mental health.” – Albert Ellis
“Mental health is often missing from public health debates even though it’s critical to wellbeing.” – Diane Abbott
“Those who suffer from mental illness are stronger than you think. We must fight to go to work, care for our families, be there for our friends, and act ‘normal’ while battling unimaginable pain.”
“I hide all my scars with an ‘I’m fine.’”
“People with mental health conditions deserve just as much support and compassion as people with physical health conditions.”
“Fear is the opposite of everything you are, and so has an effect of opposition to your mental and physical health. Fear is worry magnified.”
“It’s okay to feel unstable. It’s okay to disassociate. It’s okay to hide from the world. It’s okay to need help. It’s okay not to be okay. Your mental illness is not a personal failure.”
“I am tired of acting as though I have something to hide.” – Kay Redfield Jamison
Funny Mental Health Quotes
“I’m not faking being sick. I’m actually faking being well.”
“My only relief is sleep. When I am asleep, I am not sad, I am not angry, I am not lonely, I am nothing.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” – John Green
“I sometimes feel like my head is a computer with too many windows open.” – Matt Haig
“If you wish to keep as well as possible, the less you think about your health the better.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Some days I am more wolf than woman, and I am still learning how to stop apologizing for my wild.” – Nikita Gill
“I think that we’re all mentally ill. Those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better and maybe not all that much better after all.” – Stephen King
“If you are physically sick, you can elicit the interest of a battery of physicians; but if you are mentally sick, you are lucky if the janitor comes around.” – Martin H. Fischer
“I fight for my health every day in ways most people don’t understand. I’m not lazy. I’m a warrior.”
“I’m scared my mental illness makes me unlovable.”
Healthy Mind Quotes
“Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table. It is essential for physical and mental health and for happiness.” – Louise Hart
“A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.” – Kate Middleton
“Often it’s the deepest pain which empowers you to grow into your highest self.” – Karen Salmansohn
“Focus your mind on all the wonderful things in your life you truly are blessed.” – Asad Meah
“Sometimes, mental illness is terrifying because you feel like you’ve lost control of your mind and nothing makes sense. It’s like watching yourself on autopilot and having little to no control.”
“It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.”
“It’s okay to not be okay, it means that your mind is trying to heal itself.” – Abhijit Naskar
“On particularly rough days when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far, is 100% and that’s pretty good.”
“The mind and body are connected. If you want to feel your best mentally, take good care of your body, which includes your brain. This only stands to reason.” – Glenn R. Schiraldi
“It’s up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind.” – Steve Maraboli
“Health does not always come from medicine. Most of the time, it comes from peace of mind, peace in the heart, peace in the soul. It comes from laughter and love.”
“Out of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most.” – Mark Twain
“Through the vehicle of our emotions, our mind, body, and spirit are sending signals that something has to shift.” – Randy Taran
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.” – B.K.S. Iyengar
“It is not the the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.” – Aisha Mirza
In Conclusion
Mental health is essential for everyone. So know that if you face a mental health challenge, Just remember: You are not alone.
The only shameful thing about mental illness is the stigma attached to it. The mental health stigma is a serious problem, and people who have mental illness often are not given the same quality care. Many people are fighting against the stigma associated with mental illness, but sometimes it can be hard to remember that in a world full of bias.
That is why we are thankful for these inspiring quotes from some of society’s most progressive minds. These are encouraging words about overcoming obstacles, seeking help, and stopping stigma from helping you understand that you are never alone in your struggle, that there are resources available to help you when you need it most, and that there are people out there fighting to make the stigma disappear.
Disclaimer:
Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
Sources & References
[1] Mental Health WHO Homepage (World Health Organization)
[2] National Institute of Mental Health (United States)
[3] Mental Health Department of Health (United Kingdom)